Innovative molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor for the nanomolar detection of Tenofovir as an anti-HIV drug

Tenofovir (TNF) is an antiviral medicine that is utilized to treat the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, its level must be controlled in the human body and environment at the risk of causing kidney and liver problems. Therefore, determining TNF concentration in real samples with more advanced, inexpensive, and accurate sensing systems is essential. In this work, a novel electrochemical nanosensor for TNF determination based on molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) on the screen-printed electrode modified with functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes, graphite carbon nitride, and platinum nanoparticles (MIP-Pt@g-C3N4/F-MWCNT/SPE) was constructed through the electro-polymerization approach. The molecularly imprinted polymers were prepared on the electrode surface with TNF as the template molecule and 2-aminophenol (2-AP) as the functional monomer. Moreover, factors that affect sensor response were optimized. Pt@g-C3N4/F-MWCNT nanocomposite had an excellent synergistic effect on MIP, allowing rapid and specific identification of the test substance. The results demonstrated that the electro-polymerization of 2-AP supplies large amounts of functional groups for the binding of the template molecules, which remarkably enhances the sensitivity and specific surface area of the MIP sensor. This surface enlargement increased the analyte accessibility to imprinted molecular cavities. Under optimum conditions, the oxidation peak current had a linear relationship with TNF concentration ranging from 0.005 to 0.69 μM with a low detection limit of 0.0030 μM (S/N = 3). The results demonstrated that the designed MIP sensor possesses acceptable sensitivity, repeatability, and reproducibility toward TNF determination. Moreover, the developed sensor was applied to biological and water samples to determine TNF, and satisfactory recovery results of 95.6-104.8% were obtained (RSD less than 10.0%). We confirm that combining as-synthesized nanocomposite Pt@g-C3N4/F-MWCNT with MIP improves the limitations of MIP-based nanosensors. The proposed electrode is also compatible with portable potentiostats, allowing on-site measurements and showing tremendous promise as a point-of-care (POC) diagnostic platform.